


way to my heart is through the stomach

by orphan_account



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: M/M, SUM Restaurant LOL, he's so badass he can close stores down!!, hyuck is a food critic that everyone listens to, poor Markie, the title is so bad but i remembered it from the clique
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-06-22 03:19:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15572577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: when mark highly disagrees in the saying 'the customer is always right' for once, even when the Boy in Table 4 can make or break his beloved workplace.(or mark is a waiter and loyal employee, hyuck is seoul's most influential food critic, and SUM restaurant is waiting for haechanwithbanchan's approval)





	way to my heart is through the stomach

“You should get Table 4.”

“I’m not falling for that again, Jeno. I know Drake isn’t actually there.”

“That was your own fault for thinking he would actually be here.” Jeno laughed, his eyes disappearing into his trademark crescents. “I’m just saying if I were you, I would listen to his best friend of 15 years and trust him.”

“Because you’ve been my best friend for 15 years, I have all the more reason to not trust you.” Mark hissed. “This is just a ploy, so you can work the tables nearest to Junnie and Jaem!”

“That’s not entirely wrong, but don’t blame me if you miss your chance with the guy of your dreams. He’s definitely your type.” Jeno said, glancing back toward the tables.

Mark, who had been busying himself with Table 10’s paycheck, stopped for a moment to also look out. “Which table did you say it was?”

Placing his hand on Mark’s shoulder, Jeno pushed Mark aside from the register and took out the server pad from Mark’s pocket and shoved it into the older’s hands. With a wink, his best friend finished up the check for Table 10 and answered, “Table 4. Now, get going before he complains about the terrible service, _sunbae_.”

* * *

While making his way to whoever was there at Table 4, Mark groaned at Jeno’s incredible misuse of the word _sunbae_. One extra month at SUM restaurant barely made any difference, and Jeno only pulled the “sunbae card” for selfish reasons especially since he hardly called Mark 'hyung.' _Sunbae, take over Renjun’s shift; he has a stomachache! Sunbae, Drake is at Table 7_ (when Mark was really met with a father and his twins, both throwing up their kid menu cheeseburgers)! But Mark had a soft spot for Jeno (and since the ‘Drake incident,’ the Jung-Kim twin boys too). It would be impossible not to, with Jeno’s puppy dog smile, tousled jet-black hair and loving personality. But they were just best friends, inseparable ever since 5 year old Mark from Canada moved next door to the Lee family. Nonetheless, it would be a lie if Mark ever denied feeling anything more than friendship for Jeno, but it was during his ‘you’remybestfriendandpubertyismakingmereadintoeverything’ phase so that doesn’t necessarily count (“Yes it does.” “Says who?” “Me, Renjun, and Jaemin.” “False, you three count as one wrong opinion.”). Mark was more into th– scratch that, he was into everything the guy in Table 4 was about.

“Uh.”

“Finally! I’ve been waiting for like hours. Is this how you run a restaurant?” The boy in question glared. His orange hair fell a little too close to eyes adorned with smudged eyeliner, so he ran his hand through his hair before rolling his eyes once more for emphasis. The lights of SUM restaurant seemed to shine down on just the boy, whose bronze skin glowed with the unintentional spotlight.

“Are you gonna take my order now or are you just gonna keep on staring?”

So, Boy in Table 4 had quite the snarky attitude, but he was undeniably cute. Normally, this kind of behavior from a customer would rub Mark the wrong way, but the boy wasn’t wrong: he had been staring, but Boy from Table 4 was definitely easy on the eyes — could you blame him?

“Oh, um, I apologize. My name is Mark and I’ll be your server for today. Today’s specials include— uh yes, the Cherry Bomb, a beautiful filet of halibut glazed with Chef Lee’s special cherry glaze. Could I take your order right away or should I just get down your drinks first?” 

_"Smooth Mark, way to go!"_ He cursed in his head, thanking the gods neither Jeno, Renjun or Jaemin were near to see how flustered the boy made him feel.

The boy huffed under his breath before taking out a notepad from his bag that hung against the chair. He brought out the pen from behind his ear and began writing. “Did you know I’ve been waiting for you for exactly 12 minutes?”

Now, Mark had been at SUM for quite some time, two years to be exact. He trained under Taeyong for two months, and Taeyong’s strict service regime whipped him into shape in no time. In less than three months, his stellar service and hard work allowed him to set the record for most tip received in an hour ($127). Mark attributed his success to the saying he learned from Taeyong,“ the customer is always right,” although Renjun always liked to add, “UNLESS they’re wrong as hell!” 

So, no matter how snarky Boy in Table 4 had phrased the question, Mark responded with a sweet smile, “Of course, sir. I apologize once more, but we had to sort through some server changes. It is dinnertime, one of the busiest times for SUM Restaurant as we are well known for the fusion dishes and dinner deals.” He _was_ working right now, no cute boy could stop him!

“And now your stutter is gone too.” Boy in Table 4 noted as he quickly jotted down on his notepad. “You can pick yourself from past difficult questions. I commend you.”

“Uh thank you sir? About the drink order, is there anything you—.”

“A stain on your uniform. Does the boss not check on his employees’ presentation?”

Now, that was uncalled for. “Sir, it happens in this industry. I hope you’ll excuse me, but I would love to take your or—.”

“You’re rushing me you know that? A customer needs time to choose their order.” The boy said as he scanned through the menu on his table. “I’m hoping the ramen dish is not as limp as the curls on your head?”

And why the sudden mention of his hair? Mark knew his hair was a mess since he had missed his appointment at the hair salon but Jeno said Mark pulled it off and Renjun said it looked cute and Jaemin— Jaemin would tell him to hurry up and answer the customer: “Uh.”

“Profound! Are the other waiters just as eloquent? Actually, the host with the big smile stumbled on his feet on his way to this table, so I’m guessing the entire restaurant is like this. Now, I’m not sure if the food is even worth eating.” The boy hissed, as Mark looked on dumbfounded.

You see, Mark’s a mild-tempered guy. He never yelled at Jeno, Renjun and Jaemin for all calling out sick from work when the three ditched to go to the fair together, never screamed at his ass of a professor when he purposely marked him down for absolutely nothing and never ever talked back to a customer. And he was able to do so because of one little, but significant thing — his loyalty. Mark was loyal to the trio as they were his best friends and he could never wish them anything but love. His closest hyung Johnny had pulled some strings at SMU’s music department to get Mark mentoring from Assistant Professor Moon and couldn’t risk a burst of anger on his part to put both Moon and Johnny in an uncomfortable position. And he sure as hell couldn’t have SUM lose business when it was Chef Lee’s and Taeyong’s pride and joy. To Mark, it was the part time job he never really needed but grew to love. But for Chef Lee and Taeyong, it was everything. Taeyong, his closest hyung saved as Mum on his phone, doted on Mark and the others with so much love that Mark frequently forgot to call up his actual mother (“Umma, I’m sorry I didn’t call. I was so sure I rang you up last night, but I checked my call history and saw that I had called Taeyong instead— I know! You were the one who carried me in your stomach for 9 months— I know!”). Taeyong treated everyone at SUM with so much care because it was just the way Chef Lee treated him as well. While Taeyong struggled to make ends meet and had to forgo culinary school, Chef Lee took Taeyong under his wing and taught him everything he knew. Taeyong had an obvious talent and drive to learn, but Chef Lee refined Taeyong’s skills in such a way that the boy who once only washed the dishes ended up by Chef Lee’s side as sous chef (and a promise to inherit the restaurant in just a short few years).

Loyalty deterred Mark from ever acting out, but it was this exact same loyalty that clouded his judgement against Boy in Table 4, no matter how cute he was. Who was he to insult Taeyong’s and Chef Lee’s food without trying a single bite of it?

“Excuse me sir. You’ve done nothing but complain about my friends and colleagues without ordering a single item from the menu. Is it your job to judge?”

“Actually, it is.” The boy said with a smirk. He reached into his bag and pulled out a business card and continued, “In fact, I get paid tens of thousands of dollars just to do so.”

Reaching over, Mark fumbled with the business card that read: “HAECHAN of haechanwithbanchan: Food Critic Extraordinaire.” Mark was gullible, but he wasn't _that_ gullible. There was no way an actual professional food critic would ever think of such a lame url handle, might as well have added in the quote, “The way to a man’s heart is through the stomach,” onto the business card to increase the cliche level tenfold. 

“It’s a shame really. I wouldn’t want this place to shut down because ramen boy can’t serve for shit.” 

“You’ve got to be kidding me — you’re like 15.”

“Actually, I’m 19. And if I were you, I would shut up and just take my order.”

“Fine. What would you like today.” Mark grumbled before writing down the dishes Haechan quickly ordered.

“Oh and a water with lemon would be much appreciated.” Haechan said with an overly sweet smile. 

“Coming right up.” Mark mumbled before heading toward the kitchen. 

Mark sure couldn’t wait to spit in his water. 

**Author's Note:**

> this low-key reminds me of ratatouille because hyuck's a food critic and all but he's more reminiscent of the Michelin reviewers in Burnt (the movie with Bradley Cooper)! i rarely ever write fics, so i apologize for its quality, but i really love markhyuck's dynamic and have read some of the most phenomenal works based on their ship so I wanted to do the same. this is taking a lot longer than i wanted, but I really wante to write markhyuck well, so I'll probably divide this into chapters. everything's planned out, so I just have to sit down and find time to write! thank you for reading~


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